Due to some technical difficulties with the site, I was unable to offer lengthy opinions on the Preacher trailer that premiered last night. Thankfully, I was able to track down the Internet gods and beat the crap out of them like Jesse Custer does to a bunch of barroom punks. …Okay, so maybe the problem was fixed with no assistance from me whatsoever, but this is my post and I’ll proclaim whatever fantasy I desire!

Now that He Who Chews Behind the Boards is in his Heaven and all is right with the CHUD-ly world, I can finally ramble on about the first tease we’ve been given for the comic book adaptation, which you can watch (and rewatch. And rewatch. And rewatch) above. I’m going to go SuperDork on this one and do one of those trailer breakdown things, but before I do, I’ll offer my general impression.

It’s pretty obvious that AMC is going to be marketing this hard to their The Walking Dead audience (as evidenced by this trailer dropping in the middle of an extended episode of We Owe George A. Romero Our Careers), and I think that explains the more serious tone of this first look. They also seem to be holding back a bit on the weirder supernatural stuff, possibly to help ease the normals into this (hopefully) strange and transgressive property. It’s also very clear that this is not going to be a straight copy-and-paste job from the comic, and I’m more than okay with that. If they can nail the characters and the tone, then they can do whatever they like with the actual plotting. While I hope certain arcs play out more faithfully than others (the Angelville stuff is what I would like to see done), the show needs to be surprising and carve its own narrative path, much like AMC’s other comic book show, Seriously, Why Doesn’t George A. Romero Get Royalties for This? 

Overall, I’m giddy that Preacher even exists in some cinematic form and I remain cautiously optimistic at this point, mostly due to the involvement of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, whose This is the End is one of the best comedy films of the decade and has plenty of blasphemy and crassness to spare. Now, let’s dig into some screencaps and overanalyze this footage like true comic book fans (read: losers).

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As iconic a shot as you’d see from Preacher. Though I won’t bet any money on it, if the show starts the same way the comic does, we’ll get a rendition of Willie Nelson’s “Time of the Preacher” sung by a drunken Dominic Cooper. *fingers crossed*
Some kid asks Jesse to hurt his dad. Don’t think this squirt is from the comics, but man if he isn’t as Southern-looking as they come. If you went to school in the south, this kid was in one of your classes. If he wasn’t, then you were this kid.
I still haven’t completely warmed up to Dominic Cooper visually when it comes to Jesse Custer, and his gruff monologue in this teaser about the escalation of violence doesn’t get across the more fun and chummy aspects of Jesse’s character, but there’s some other stuff we’ll get to that does achieve that. Still, given an appropriate amount of time and a good performance, I think the once and future Howard Stark can pull this off.
That right there is some nice composition. If we’re going off of the comics, this is most likely the morning after Jesse went hogwild in the local bar and called out a bunch of the townsfolk for being pieces of shit. This is also when he gets taken over by the supernatural being known as Genesis, and his congregation doesn’t exactly survive that merging. We might actually get a glimpse of that in a bit…
Ah hah! A reference for fans! One of Jesse’s empty whiskey bottles is branded, “Ratwater.” In the comic book, Ratwater was the place where the dreaded Saint of Killers (basically the Angel of Death if he looked like Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven) met his demise as a mortal man. It wouldn’t be Preacher without the Saint of Killers, so Ihope this is a sly nod to his eventual emergence in the show.
Our first look at Ruth Negga as Tulip O’Hare, the love of Jesse’s life and one badass lady. Preacher is a story that is held up by a lot of fantastic characters, and Tulip could possibly be the best of the bunch. Here’s hoping that Ruth Negga does her justice.
Our first look at Joseph Gilgun as Irish vampire bad boy Cassidy (his real first name is Proinsias). Looks like he and Jesse spend the night in jail together and do their first bit of bonding. As we continue on, you’ll find out exactly why Jospeh Gilgun wins this trailer.
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Cassidy opens up a Bible with a whole lot of crazy person scribbles going on. It looks to be focusing on the Book of Revelation, and of specific interest in this picture is the bracketed section on the top of the left page. I’m pretty sure that’s Revelation 19:11-14, which describes the Heavenly Warrior who will defeat the Beast. The most important part of this passage for Preacher fans is that the name of the warrior is the Word of God. In the comic, the entity known as Genesis gives Jesse the power of The Word, an ability that allows Jesse to speak in such a way that anyone listening must follow his commands. I love Biblical apocalyptic mythology, and I hope the show really goes nuts with this stuff. The book of Revelation is metal as fuck.
The focus in this shot is from a particular term from Ezekiel 28:12, the King of Tyrus (or Tyre in most translations). This is from one of Ezekiel’s many prophecies, and some people have interpreted the King of Tyrus to be synonymous with Satan himself. Will this mean anything in the long run? Satan doesn’t have much of a role in the original version of Preacher (he’s actually shot dead by the Saint of Killers when he first arrives in Hell), but who knows with this show?
The more I see of him, the more I like Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy. He’s a flight attendant on some fancy plane, and that is definitely not from the comic book in any way, shape, or form. Very intrigued by this.
Barroom brawls are recurring occurrences in Preacher, and this looks to be one of the first we’ll be seeing. From what it looks like, Jesse is throwing down with some Confederate Civil War reenactors. YES. Part of the fun of Preacher is having Jesse dole out his philosophies about what it means to be a true Texan/Southerner, and he never misses an opportunity to call out people who lavishly embrace the less-than-favorable aspects of their heritage. Above all, Preacher should be a show that pisses off a healthy helping of backwards idiots. If it don’t, then it ain’t Preacher.
If I never see another “car haulin’ ass through a cornfield” scene, I can depart this world a happy man.
Tulip gets attacked by a man dressed in a white suit, and this might be in the same car from the cornfield above. I see a figure dressed in a white suit and my mind immediately goes to The Grail, a religious organization that basically runs the world and protects one of the Church’s most prized secrets (or so we’re led to believe…). It’s equally possible that this is one of the mafioso types Tulip gets mixed up with when she decides to venture into the hitman business. Either way, I bet those scissors end up in that guy before they do Tulip.
Looks like shit goes down on that fancy plane. Cassidy winds up…
…and the pilot gets a champagne bottle stuck in him. I’m hoping the show brings the violence fast and brutal, because Preacher is a story that is absolutely in love with gore and gleeful harm.

This little moment from Joseph Gilgun sold me. It’s very possible that he’s going to be the breakout character of the show, and I wouldn’t be happier.

Is that Cassidy jumping out of the plane? I guess his immortality means he’ll be okay, but he’ll be quite the mess to pick up. I’m interested to see how the show treats Cassidy’s vampiric abilities, since the comic portrays him as extremely human as far as the damage that can be done to him (which he can heal from over time).
Oooooo, our first tenny tiny peek at Cassidy getting some serious sunburn. Again, I wonder if they’ll be softening some of his damageable nature in order to keep him in settings like this. That’s not necessarily a bad or good change, but it’s just different.
Either this show is doing a reenactment of the blood rave from Blade or something is exploding all over these folks. I can’t tell exactly where this is taking place though.
That’s a downed helicopter if I ever saw one. Could this be some of the aftermath of the police attack on the Saint of Killers from the first arc of the book?
A guy with little army men toys welded onto his face. Okay, Preacher looks like it might have a little bit of that wackiness in store for us.
Cassidy looks like he just got done eating. This is a good time to mention that a big element from the comics has been discarded: Cassidy always wearing sunglasses. In the comic, Cassidy’s sunglasses will be removed and people will make shocked observations along the lines of, “What happened to your eyes?” The eventual reveal is actually kind of a letdown (Cassidy is no Corinthian. Ugh, I hate my comic book knowledge), and I know that actors’ eyes are one of the most valuable tools to their craft. But, at least it looks like we’ll get a nice nod to it in the show.
Jesse punches one of the Confederate reenactors and cracks this sly little smile. THIS is Jesse Custer: a guy who likes to fight and fuck in equal measure and loves every moment of it.
Looks like Jesse ain’t quite done with this good ol’ boy quite yet.
CRRRRRACK! SNAP! He’s gonna feel that in the mornin’.
Cassidy says his trademarked, “Jaysis,” and chortles like a little boy. Whatever comes of Preacher, I don’t think Gilgun will be a problem. I just hope that the relationship between Jesse and Cassidy is as great as it was on the page, and I hope Tulip gets as much screentime as the both of them. But seriously, I could listen to Gilgun do that little laugh for hours on end. It’s a delight.

Now that I’ve yakked on and on, it’s time to hear your thoughts about our first look at AMC’s Preacher. Hop along to the comments section and let’s duke it out. (Speaking of The Duke, his presence is nowhere in this trailer. I figured his “guardian angel” status would probably get omitted. Shame)

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